Enabling cross-cultural student voice during COVID-19: A collective autoethnography
01 Jan 2020-Journal of university teaching and learning practice (University of Wollongong. Available from: Centre for Educational Development and Interactive Resources. Northfields Avenue, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Tel: +61-2-4221-3140; Fax: +61-2-4225-8312; e-mail: jutlp@uow.edu.au; Web site: http://ro.uow.edu.au/jutlp)-Vol. 17, Iss: 5, pp 22-22
TL;DR: In this article, a co-constructed account developed adopting a students as partners philosophy was presented, with four students from two countries (Australia and Singapore) to independently reflect on their experience and collectively consolidate their learning journey through the pandemic, and be mentored and supported by two academics.
Abstract: Higher education learning and teaching has faced a significant challenge in 2020. The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has required institutions to engage in emergency response teaching and deliver distance, online, or socially distanced delivery in most jurisdictions globally. The literature to date has focused on understanding this from the perspective of the institutions and academics primarily. For example, institutional case studies and staff critical reflections. There has been literature published on student learning, student experience, and student wellbeing during COVID-19, but these are typically constructed through an academic lens (e.g. a student satisfaction survey). This research offers a co-constructed account developed adopting a students as partners philosophy. Our research team includes four students from two countries (Australia and Singapore) to independently reflect on their experience and collectively consolidate their learning journey through the pandemic, and be mentored and supported by two academics. Our findings indicate that students feel generally disconnected from their experience. Students felt their agency was important, self-awareness and accountability enabled this. Students also reflected that changes to their learning environment had made it more difficult to create social connections. They also include opportunities to change our teaching practice to be more supportive of our students’ collective learning during COVID-19.
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TL;DR: Godber and Atkins as mentioned in this paper present personal narratives, authored collaboratively by lecturers Anna and Hana (pseudonyms), engaging with a socio-ecological systems framework to reveal the complexity of the impacts of Covid-19 on teaching and learning.
Abstract: The phenomenon of the Covid-19 lockdown in New Zealand during 2020 enabled two Higher Education (HE) lecturers to reflect on grappling with new technologies, changes in lifestyle and livelihoods, and the impact that social isolation had on Bachelor of Sport and Recreation (BSR) students as they shifted to emergency “remote” teaching and learning. This paper presents personal narratives, authored collaboratively by lecturers Anna and Hana (pseudonyms), engaging with a socio-ecological systems framework. The systems framework presents a layered, multi-faceted approach to reveal the complexity of the impacts of Covid-19 on HE teaching and learning. In-depth analysis of the microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems making up their systems framework, serve to highlight specifically how Anna and Hana interpreted their own and their university students’ responses to the unprecedented measures imposed on their lifestyle (home), livelihood (employment), and HE experience (online learning). By applying an autoethnographic methodology, this paper acknowledges and celebrates the lecturers’ subjectivity, emotionality, and influence on the presented research. As educators, their critical self-reflections are authentic and timely, expressing key concerns and considerations, while searching for optimal solutions to deliver equal and equitable learning opportunities for all students. A unique characteristic of this phenomenon was the inability (due to COVID-19 restrictions) of students who learn through practical contexts, to enact kinesthetically in a meaningful manner, and the subsequent implications on their learning. This paper presents a snippet of the lecturers’ reflective practice, co-constructed from recollections, memories, and anecdotal evidence, against a backdrop of current Covid-19 research on the effects of the pandemic, on teaching and learning globally. Whilst this paper sheds light on the experiences of two HE lecturers during the COVID-19 lockdown, a collection and analysis of “student” voice, is recommended. This paper concludes that a collaborative autoethnographic approach during exceptional circumstances, such as natural disasters, pandemics, and other disruptive situations, provides an opportunity for professional self-observation and self-reflective practice that is mutually beneficial, and empowering. These insights provide shared critical knowledge to sustain achievement while averting negative impacts, for students and lecturers alike. © Copyright © 2021 Godber and Atkins.
24 citations
TL;DR: This article provided a reading on whether existing teaching and learning practices should be retained or whether new practices can and should emerge through the lens of culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee (CALDMR) students.
Abstract: ABSTRACT While the impacts of COVID-19 on higher education are still unfolding, it is clear that the disruption caused by the pandemic has provided a warrant to re-consider existing teaching and learning practices. We provide a reading on whether existing teaching and learning practices should be retained or whether new practices can and should emerge through the lens of culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee (CALDMR) students. These students already experienced significant educational disadvantage before the pandemic moved teaching and learning online. Drawing on findings from an Australian study that explores the experiences of both university students and staff, we question whether these experiences offer hope for what bell hooks calls engaged pedagogy – as a form of university teaching and learning that is more caring, more student-centred and collaborative, and more exciting.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , a zoom-out perspective of higher education students' experiences related to the emergency remote learning (ERL) following the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was captured by a national, in-depth survey administered to all higher education institutions in Cyprus (different fields of study and educational levels).
Abstract: This study provides a zoom-out perspective of higher education students’ experiences related to the emergency remote learning (ERL) following the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic as captured by a national, in-depth survey administered to all higher education institutions in Cyprus (different fields of study and educational levels). Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data collected from 1051 students provide valuable information and insights regarding learners’ prior technology background and level of preparedness for online learning, the challenges and benefits of ERL and how they would like their online learning experience to be improved in case of future ERL. The results underline that students’ knowledge of and self-efficacy in using e-learning tools do not directly equate to being a digital learner equipped with necessary digital skills such as self-regulation to fully benefit from online learning. The educational disparities caused by inequalities in access and accessibility to high-quality education laid bare by the pandemic stressed the need for online environments that would afford quality learning for all learners. Online learning demands are discussed in the article, as well as implications for research, practice and policy making.
14 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors focus on identifying the students' preferred aspects of online education during the COVID-19 pandemic, namely learning, teaching, assessment and interaction with peers and teachers, in order to improve face-to-face education by contextually adapting it to their needs.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has left a mark on education as it had been known before. Beyond his, attention needs to be paid to the transition back to face-to-face learning and its implications. Within this context of change, the present research focuses on identifying the students’ preferred aspects of online education during the pandemic, namely learning, teaching, assessment, and interaction with peers and teachers, in order to improve face-to-face education by contextually adapting it to their needs. A survey was used on a representative sample of students from Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania, who were required to indicate their preferred form of education and the most beneficial one for their professional development. The results indicate the targeted students’ several preferences, such as teachers’ support with electronic educational resources, the use of online educational platforms to access resources and take tests, the easier and individualized communication with teachers, as well as peer connectivity in common projects. These findings identify practical suggestions that lead to a balance between face-to-face and digital education, probably under the form of blended learning, which could be considered by the main stakeholders in order to have a future sustainable education.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors investigated the perceived advantages and disadvantages of online-only education, how this influenced their social networks, study efficiency and their whole experience in university education, and collected answers to open-ended sentences from such students.
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread shift to online education around the world and in Hungary, too. Educational institutions from kindergartens to universities were forced to adapt rapidly to this new situation, when the space of education moved from classrooms to online video meetings; the regular methods and tools needed to be changed or modified. Nonetheless, we should keep in mind that online education itself was an already existing concept before the pandemic as part of digitalization as a current societal megatrend, however it was not widely used in educational institutions across different programs. By 2021, there are university students who have mostly or exclusively participated in higher education online. Online classes could be a new normal situation to these students instead of the pre-pandemic personal activities in physical classrooms, leading to altering the norms of participation. In our research, we collected answers to open-ended sentences from such students. As we wish to understand how students perceive the differences between online and offline education, we investigated the perceived advantages and disadvantages of online-only education, how this influenced their social networks, study efficiency and their whole experience in university education.
7 citations